Hey readers, today I will be finally sharing with you my smoky aubergine Pasta with confit datterini tomatoes recipe.
Smoky aubergine, confit datterini tomatoes and ricotta salata.
My love for aubergine (or eggplant) has always been there since I was a child. Parmigiana di melanzane, Pasta alla Norma, my grandma’s stuffed aubergine and babaganoush are just some of the dishes I love to make – and of course to eat – that include aubergine.
In fact this Smoky aubergine Pasta with datterini tomatoes confit it’s the fruit of my love for these simple ingredients, some of the most used ingredients in classic Italian cuisine.
About the preparation
With this dish I wanted to break down the ingredients of Pasta alla Norma – tomato sauce, fried aubergine, basil and ricotta salata cheese – by creating a pesto from the chargrilled aubergine, garlic and basil, adding some caramelized confit datterini tomatoes as a garnish and freshly grate on top some ricotta salata.
So here is the recipe for you, to worship your summer lunch with a friend, partner, or maybe to impress your family reunion. Pretty sure kids also will love the fresh flavour of this Pasta.
This recipe is a pretty simple one, it will not take forever to make as the longest process is the cooking time for the datterini tomatoes and chargrilled the aubergine to give them the smoky flavour. If you won’t be able to do this chargrilling process, you can easily use the oven, a gas barbecue or gas burner.
The smoky aubergine Pasta with confit datterini tomatoes is a vegetarian recipe, as the ricotta salata is a dairy product obtained from different, yet animal milk, milk whey but doesn’t usually contain rennet. To make sure when you buy always read the ingredient list. Also, this dish can be vegan, merely dropping the use of the ricotta salata and replacing it with yeast flakes.
The datterini tomatoes confit are made with these bright red, oval-shaped small tomatoes. Originary of Asia but they become very famous in many cuisines, and so in Italy. Either red or yellow variety is perfect for this dish, the amazing sweetness and juiciness will only be appreciated.
To confit the datterini is a simple but not so quick method, of “dring” the fruit to accentuate the flavour. You will just need an oven, seasoning and some patience.
Smoked aubergine sauce, to give the creaminess to your pasta, will be done on a gas burner and then blitz. The burning process will smoke the eggplant and give the extra hint for the perfect dish.
About the pasta choice, I recon to look for bronze-drawn pasta – trafilata al bronzo – the rugged texture will be mixing amazingly with sauce, the confit tomatoes and the ricotta. I used this organic tagliatelle Seggiano, made with durum wheat from Val d’Orcia, Tuscany. SO NICE
Something about Aubergine
Aubergine is a summer vegetable that reaches the “peak of goodness” between June to September. The usual colour of these vegetables is mostly purple shades, but there are different varieties that come in white, green, yellow and even reddish, and also many distinct shapes.
Raw aubergine can have a bitter taste, which can easily be fixed by washing the fruit properly, cutting them and placing it in a strainer with some coarse salt and a weight on top; after half an hour wash them properly and they will be ready to cook. Also avoid buying soft aubergine, as they will tend to be more bitter if they ripen.
The taste is not very strong and particular, but it’ll absorb other ingredients flavours and oils so the ways of cooking them are thousands and you won’t get bored if your vegetable garden gives you many.
Last but not least aubergine is a good source of fibre, vitamins B1, B3 and B6, K and minerals such as potassium and manganese. They are high in antioxidants, their consumption may improve heart function and reduce LDL cholesterol, triglyceride and blood sugar levels. Low in calories and is on your 1-5 a day, so can be integrated into your diet easily.
So you will now be ready to make the smoky aubergine pasta with datterini tomatoes confit.
The best smoky Aubergine Pasta with Datterini tomatoes confit
Ingredients
- 2 aubergine
- 5 garlic cloves
- ½ bunch of fresh Basil
- 200 g Datterini tomatoes or Cherry tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon Maple syrup or Muscovado sugar
- 160 g "Seggiano organic" Tagliatelle
- to taste Ricotta Salata
- to taste oregano
- to taste Extra Virgin Olive oil
Instructions
- The longest cooking of this recipe will be for the datterini tomatoes to confit. Preheat the oven to 150°C and start by washing the tomatoes, cut them in half and place them on an oven tray with a reusable silicone baking sheet or parchment paper. Season it with some oregano, a couple of garlic cloves, salt, a good amount of olive oil and a teaspoon of Maple syrup or muscovado sugar – this will give the tomatoes a more sweet and nutty flavour, thanks to the caramelisation of the sugar -. Put the tray in the oven and keep the datterini for a couple of hours or until they look dried enough but they are actually not, as your final result will give you juicy and caramelised tomatoes.
- Now let's start preparing the smoky aubergine sauce. Wash the fruit and prick them a few times with a pointed knife or a fork, this will allow the smokiness to penetrate the aubergine and so to have a stronger smoked flavour. I decided to use the gas burner method, as it was the easiest one and fastest when I have done the recipe. Using kitchen tongs, hold the eggplant on the fire hob and turn it when needed, more or less you will be doing this step every 5 minutes, occasionally by being careful the fruit won't catch fire and char completely. Still, the result you want is almost burnt, yet soft inside, with cracked and dry skin.Once the aubergine are cooked, place them in a metal or glass bowl and cover it with foil or a lid. Cool it down for about 20 minutes or so.
- Meanwhile waiting for your smoky aubergine to cool down and your tomatoes are almost ready, place a pot of water to boil.
- Peel the aubergine without being so picky to take it all off, some of the skin will give a more smoky flavour to your dish and you won't regret it. Place them in a food processor, or use your hand blender, together with the two garlic cloves, olive oil and the fresh basil. Blitz it till you obtain a smooth and velvety cream, taste it and season it as need it with salt and black pepper. And the smoky aubergine sauce is ready to use.
- Your datterini confit is ready to come out of the oven and the pasta is ready to be cooked. As the water boil add the salt and drop the pasta in. The tagliatelle cooking time is 13 minutes, but it won't cook the whole time in the boiling water.
- Ready for the fun part? I love to finish most of the pasta dishes the last 2 to 5 minutes in the frying pan. So make sure your pan is big enough to contain the amount of pasta you are cooking, plus the other 2 ingredients. Make the pan hot and do a quick sofritto with EVO, poached garlic and a poor quantity of the confit datterini.
- When the pasta cooking time is just 3 minutes away, drain it, but make sure to keep some of the cooking water, as will be needed to finish the pasta cooking process but inside the frying pan. With the tagliatelle in the hot pan, add a ladle of the kept water and stir the pasta with tongs. As you were making risotto, let the water absorb into the pasta and so add one more ladle, till the pasta reaches the perfect "al dente" texture.
- Time to add your tasty smoky aubergine sauce and the datterini confit to the pasta – keep some for garnish -, giving the last toss and mixing all the ingredients very well.
- Plate your beautiful and smoothy pasta on the plate and finish it with some grated ricotta salata – or the yeast flakes – fresh basil leaf and the left tomatoes confit.
- Enjoy your Smoky aubergine Pasta and datterini confit with a full bodied red wine such as a Nebbiolo or Brunello di Montalcino.
Alternatives
As you might not be able to either cook the aubergine on the fire burner or on the charcoal grill, you can use your oven without problems. Preheat the oven to 200°C, prick the aubergine and place them on a tray. Once the oven is hot, cook them for around 50 minutes or until soft and almost burnt.
In case you won’t be able to find “ricotta salata” in your country, a good substitute is the Feta cheese. The flavour of both is indeed very salty and tasty, but the feta can be slightly stronger, so before sprinkling it on top of your pasta, soak the cheese in water for 30 minutes.
Let me know if you try the recipe and if you liked it. I will be happy to answer your question in case there is some more curiosity.
